From Prison to Palace
We have received the following story and its well worth the telling, so here goes.
Vanessa says:
Here’s a story about my friend Chris. I hope it will inspire you and challenge your faith and your praying, as it has done for me.
Chris has been homeless for nearly a year now. He’s from Nigeria and has lived in the UK for 10 years. A while ago he lost his job as a care assistant because of ongoing visa issues. He was renting a room from an old man, who let him stay on for free when he could no longer afford the rent because he would cook meals, clean and go to the post office for him. Eventually the old man died, and Chris had to move on.
Chris ended up staying with some nuns who run a shelter down the road from me. He’d been going to a local church, but when he became homeless he started to feel unwelcome there. The nuns sent him, like they do a lot of the guys who live there, to our drop-in. He soon made himself a real part of the furniture, faithfully praying for and with us, committing to house-group, serving other people within the drop-ins, celebrating and interceding with the church community.
For the maximum three months allowed, Chris lived with the nuns, but then had to be on his way and stayed in the winter night shelters run by a rotation of churches, staying one night per week in each church. In this time he really took the opportunity to dig deep into God, to study the Bible, to pray constantly. Every time I saw him he would ask me what I was reading in the Bible at the time, and I’d have to make sure I really knew what I was talking about as we discussed and prayed through it. It made him really sad to have to be in the churches by 8 at night as he couldn’t come to any evening events at church, but he went back and re-read his Bible, and shared his story with the people he came into contact with. Chris’ story is really powerful, God completely set him free from a life of alcoholism and he is utterly passionate about sharing the good news of hope, freedom and joy with everyone he meets who is caught up in addiction. In the day time he spent his time volunteering for another day centre, washing up and serving food.
But at the end of March the night shelters shut and after looking into all other alternatives, Chris had to resort to sleeping rough. Unfortunately, although everyone did what they could, no one could find a solution, and the most we could offer was afternoon naps on our sofa, use of our washing machine and cups of coffee. It’s amazing how many times a pieced together meal for two was suddenly lavishly enough for three as we shared what we had. In all this time I felt so blessed to spend time with someone who really evidently carries the presence of God that bubbles over and blesses everyone he meets, maybe with an old hymn, doing the washing up, a timely Bible verse or a crazy dance move.
But it was a tough time as we prayed and cried together and asked God whether it was time to give up and go back – not home, but to a country where Chris hasn’t been for ten years, a place with no family, no connections, no work for him. And yet Chris remains convinced that God has brought him to this place for a purpose and for such a time as this.
I think Chris could probably feel quite a kinship with Jacob, wrestling with God for His blessing, to see Him move in His life, crying out to God like David did, that for him to live life in these circumstances wasn’t bringing glory to God. (Psalm 30:8-10)
Reading the book of Psalms through the lens of Chris’ life, it comes alive for me again, as I see those same heart cries meeting this unchanging God, in all His faithfulness, His goodness, His joy.
One night Chris reached rock-bottom desperation point and shouted out at God, asking Him once and for all to take him out of this situation and to give him somewhere to live. He then felt led to bed down in a particular place, and asked God to protect him with His angels, and went to sleep peacefully, despite the vulnerability of his situation. In the middle of the night someone came up and started to cause trouble with him, when out of nowhere a tall figure came, stood in front of Chris and drove that person away. Chris sleepily tried to get his bearings, looked at his phone to see the time, and instead saw the words ‘The angel of the LORD is at your side.’
The next morning Chris got up and again felt directed to go to a particular drop-in centre where he sometimes went. He had some breakfast and dozed off. He was woken up by a staff member calling him to a phone call that had come through from the Emmaus community in Cambridge, offering him a place to live and work with them for as long as necessary, starting from the next day.
His shock was hilarious, his joy is absolutely infectious– the first thing he said to me was ‘The Lord makes everything beautiful in its time’ – a promise he’d been hanging on to. We took him out to dinner to celebrate the good news, and spent time praying with him, to really send him on his way blessed. It was a pure piece of heaven on earth as we danced and sang our way down the road, celebrating God’s goodness and faithfulness together.
Chris puts it best himself, ‘It’s like Joseph’s experience – from prison to palace. Only God can do such a great thing, it is marvellous in my eyes.’
I’ve been so challenged in my own faith, in what I will ask God for. God did so much more than I even thought to ask Him for or had faith to believe, and yet in Luke 11 we read the story of the friend who asks his neighbour with great boldness for what he needs. How much more will we receive what we need when we ask it of our God, who is so much greater and more compassionate than a grumpy next door neighbour. ‘So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.’ (Luke 11: 9-10)
Chris has moved in and settled down at Emmaus now. He sent me this message: ‘This is paradise! The promises of God are true. They can only be realised through faith and perseverance.’ After a time of digging deep into God’s word and greater depths of His presence, this new stage of life and ministry is a real mission field for Chris as he is able to work productively and shares his testimony and his life with this new, formerly homeless, community.
‘To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame,
or let my enemies triumph over me.
No one whose hope is in you
will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame
who are treacherous without excuse.
Show me your ways, O LORD,
Teach me your paths;
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Saviour,
and my hope is in you all day long.
Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you are good, O LORD.’
(Psalm 25:1-7)
Vanessa Stringer
24-7/SA Prayer Network Admin Assistant
The Salvation Army Evangelism Department